


But It Still Changes

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, Gen, Post-Episode: s05e22 Made of Honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 19:31:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21062000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “So…” Bismuth says slowly, unable to even bring herself to be bothered about the horror creeping into her voice. “This whole time…forthousandsof years…you’ve been fighting…us? Other Crystal Gems?”Another nod, and then Pearl looks vacantly out at the sea. “And those Homeworld Gems who didn’t manage to get away in time. After a while, the distinction ceased to matter.”“Maybe it never really did.”Bismuth and Pearl debrief.





	But It Still Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Title form the song "Everything Stays" from _Adventure Time_.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

On the night before the wedding, when everything is set and ready to go for the following morning, Bismuth finds herself sitting alone on a rock overlooking the sea. If she’s honest, her impulse is Warp back to her forge, but she’d been a solider—she knows what team unity looks like—and after everything, it feels important to stay nearby to make explicitly clear that she _is_ a Crystal Gem. That that’s where her loyalties lie. 

That said, though, there’s an atmosphere in the house in which she doesn’t—_can’t_—feel included. Ruby and Sapphire are all lovey-dovey, of course—that’s not new—and crazy with anticipation, as they should be. But this doesn’t feel like a _team_ celebration as much as a _family_ one, and while she might have been a part of this family once, she sure as Stars isn’t now. No, the family is Steven and the Gems who raised him, loved him, rather than trying to _shatter_ him. 

And besides, even the objective had changed…the War they were fighting, the enemies…for thousands of years, they’d been fighting... _fighting_…

(Biggs was some kind of _monster_.) 

Everything was different now. 

“Bismuth?” A voice from behind her stirs her from her thoughts. “Are you alright?”

She hurriedly wipes the tears out of her eyes, before turning around. “Ah, hey, Pearl! Yeah, just thought I’d come out here for some fresh air, but ya know, you should get back to the party!”

Pearl smiles gently. “It’s not really a _party_, per se. And things can sometimes become…_overwhelming_ in the house, even in a good way, so I come to sit out here as well. May I join you?”

“Yeah, alright. Why not?”

She does, folds her legs and sits down next to the rock.

For a moment, the only sound is the waves gently lapping the shore. Then Bismuth speaks again. “I saw Biggs. Or…whatever that…_thing_ is now.”

“It—_she_ got _out_?!”

“I _let_ her out. Don’t worry—I poofed her right after and Steven put ‘er in a bubble. He didn’t get hurt.” She pauses. “I didn’t _realize_...Steven tried to warn me, but I just thought…They’re _all_ like that?”

Pearl sighs, and nods. “Other than you, me, and Garnet.”

“But…those other Gems…that little Amethyst? And the Peridot?”

“Peridot only came to Earth from Homeworld a little over a year ago—”

Bismuth opens her mouth to make some sort of exclamation, demand an explanation for how they know this Peridot can be trusted. Because sure, a Peridot isn’t an elite, but if she _just_ arrived from Homeworld, and the War apparently ended thousands of years ago, why would a Homeworld Gem have the motivation to come to Earth unless it was to sabotage…_what_ exactly? What was there even left to sabotage? 

(If Rose had been a Diamond all along, what had there _ever_ been to sabotage?) 

She closes her mouth.

“And,” Pearl continues. “Amethyst was over-incubated and didn’t emerge until centuries after the War. We found her wandering around the Kindergarten. Being in the ground must have protected her.”

“I…Protected her from _what_?! What _happened_?!”

Another, heavier sigh. “Corruption. The Diamonds’ last stand.” She pauses. “Homeworld was all _leaving_—we thought we’d won—but then there was a bright, white light…Rose managed to pull Garnet and me behind her shield, and after…” She shakes her head.

“So…” Bismuth says slowly, unable to even bring herself to be bothered about the horror creeping into her voice. “This whole time…for _thousands_ of years…you’ve been fighting…_us_? Other Crystal Gems?”

Another nod, and then Pearl looks vacantly out at the sea. “And those Homeworld Gems who didn’t manage to get away in time. After a while, the distinction ceased to matter.”

“Maybe it never really did.”

“What?”

“I mean, if Rose was Pink Diamond the whole time, and we were always fighting Pink’s army, what was _ever_ the difference between us and them?! We all just got _played_!” But when Bismuth looks up, sees the way that Pearl’s body has drooped, the tears welling up in her eyes, she softens. Whatever Pearl _should_ feel about the War, about her _owner_, Bismuth supposes that she can't expect those Rose-tinted lenses to disappear so easily. “Aw, geeze, Pearl, I didn’t mean to—”

“No, you…you have a right to be upset. And you had a…a right to know the truth back then, as well. I should've...I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t _your_ fault!” 

The other Gem doesn’t respond to that, and for a moment, neither of them speak. The waves crash. Finally, Pearl continues in a small, quiet voice:

“Rose did _mean_ everything she said. About wanting Gems to be free. She…” A swallow. “She also felt…_trapped_. I realize that knowing who she really was puts things in rather a different light, but…she meant all of it.”

Once, she would have yelled at that, enraged by the suggestion that a _Diamond_ could possibly empathize with, possibly understand, anything that a common Gem might feel. But now Bismuth merely glances at the reflection of the moon in the ocean, disrupted again and again by the rippling waves. She supposes that pictures like this—things that shine so luminous—can never quite be so simple. “Huh.” 

Everything’s different, now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


End file.
